Lovely Lady Licorice
I am way over-due for a Licorice update, considering the last public entry I wrote about her was back in December. She is now about 8 months old, and she is a complete and total sweetheart!
She is fantastic at retrieves and will bring me anything I drop, other than leashes and items with straps on them. We are working on it, but I am just giving her a break, because she is the type who will shut down if you push her too hard. For the longest time, I was really struggling to get her to do any of the other service dog tasks, but she left me for a month, and when she came home, it was as if she was saying "I will do anything you ask, just don't make me leave again!"
She is now able to open and close the kitchen cabinets and she can do the same with the drawers most of the time, though sometimes, she struggles to push hard enough to get them closed. She can open and close the refrigerator, though she can't quite pull hard enough to break the seal on the fridge to pop it open...I help her with that part right now. She can push wheelchair access buttons with her nose at many different heights, and she has learned to curl her paws in against her chest when hitting higher buttons so she will not scratch up walls and things. As for light switches, she can turn the rocker switches on and off, and she can turn the standard switches on but not yet off. I have switch boards for the buttons and switches, so she has not yet done either of these tasks in a real-life situation. She is not comfortable working in her vest, so I am just getting her solid on all of these tasks before I start trying to get her to do them in vest.
She heels so so nicely that I forget she is with me. She just floats right next to me, and she is so gentle and sweet. All she wants all day long is love love love. She is going to be something special for someone when she gets matched, that is for sure. I adore her!
So, you may be asking, "Why on earth did she leave for a month?" I traded puppies with another raiser back in March. He is going to be a guide/service dog, and he came here to get started on his formal harness training. Licorice was supposed to stay in the other home while I was working with Pilot, a now 18-month-old male German shepherd,. She did not do well in that home, however, so I currently have both dogs with me, on top of my usual crew of Dayton, Mazda, Sprocket and Ruckus.
These guys are keeping me very busy, but Pilot is coming along fantastically in his training. I did my first blindfolded walk with him yesterday. I don't have much vision, but I am able to pick out sidewalks and approaching intersections at times, so it was important to be sure that he really understood the job and that I wasn't unintentionally helping him out. Pilot will be heading out to Guide Dogs of the Desert in the next month or so, and I like to tell myself that then, I will only have five dogs, but I have a sneaking suspician that I will soon have another young dog in my home. Licorice will be with me for at least another ten months, and possibly longer, depending on how long it takes her to truly grow confident, consistent and dependable in her work.
I have a feeling a lot will be happening with both Licorice and Pilot in the up coming months, so I will do my best to keep this journal updated.
Meghan
She is fantastic at retrieves and will bring me anything I drop, other than leashes and items with straps on them. We are working on it, but I am just giving her a break, because she is the type who will shut down if you push her too hard. For the longest time, I was really struggling to get her to do any of the other service dog tasks, but she left me for a month, and when she came home, it was as if she was saying "I will do anything you ask, just don't make me leave again!"
She is now able to open and close the kitchen cabinets and she can do the same with the drawers most of the time, though sometimes, she struggles to push hard enough to get them closed. She can open and close the refrigerator, though she can't quite pull hard enough to break the seal on the fridge to pop it open...I help her with that part right now. She can push wheelchair access buttons with her nose at many different heights, and she has learned to curl her paws in against her chest when hitting higher buttons so she will not scratch up walls and things. As for light switches, she can turn the rocker switches on and off, and she can turn the standard switches on but not yet off. I have switch boards for the buttons and switches, so she has not yet done either of these tasks in a real-life situation. She is not comfortable working in her vest, so I am just getting her solid on all of these tasks before I start trying to get her to do them in vest.
She heels so so nicely that I forget she is with me. She just floats right next to me, and she is so gentle and sweet. All she wants all day long is love love love. She is going to be something special for someone when she gets matched, that is for sure. I adore her!
So, you may be asking, "Why on earth did she leave for a month?" I traded puppies with another raiser back in March. He is going to be a guide/service dog, and he came here to get started on his formal harness training. Licorice was supposed to stay in the other home while I was working with Pilot, a now 18-month-old male German shepherd,. She did not do well in that home, however, so I currently have both dogs with me, on top of my usual crew of Dayton, Mazda, Sprocket and Ruckus.
These guys are keeping me very busy, but Pilot is coming along fantastically in his training. I did my first blindfolded walk with him yesterday. I don't have much vision, but I am able to pick out sidewalks and approaching intersections at times, so it was important to be sure that he really understood the job and that I wasn't unintentionally helping him out. Pilot will be heading out to Guide Dogs of the Desert in the next month or so, and I like to tell myself that then, I will only have five dogs, but I have a sneaking suspician that I will soon have another young dog in my home. Licorice will be with me for at least another ten months, and possibly longer, depending on how long it takes her to truly grow confident, consistent and dependable in her work.
I have a feeling a lot will be happening with both Licorice and Pilot in the up coming months, so I will do my best to keep this journal updated.
Meghan